Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
The Dynamics of Sociopathy
One of the most difficult-to-treat conditions is the personality disorder called “sociopathy” or “psychopathy”—the kind of “con man” who rips people off, and often the confirmed criminal. I was corresponding with a colleague in England who works with such problems and shared with her some ideas about some of the dynamics I think go on […]
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An Interview with Adam about Creativity
http://creativity-at-work.blogspot.com/search?q=Blatner Here’s an interview with me—about a half-hour or so—made in 2006 at an American Creativity Conference that helps the listener: (1) Appreciate some philosophical ideas that offer an intellectual foundation for many more practical efforts; (2) Relate these, if one chooses–but it’s not necessary–to a contemporary view of spirituality; (3) Relate these, also to […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Psychological Literacy | No Comments
A New Approach to Psychotherapy / Wellness
I went to a workshop two days ago given by a fellow who mixes positive affirmations, group dynamics, a technique of tapping acupuncture points and a variety of new age speculations. It was a mixed experience: I liked some things and didn’t like other things. What I liked was that this fellow wove together some […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy | 1 Comment
Welcome to my Blog!
Welcome to my blog—this is a new toy that my son set up for me. (He’s quite knowledgeable about computer stuff—you can google him (David Blatner) and come up with scores of thousands of hits!) When I was young, my cultural tradition was to have your kids in some ways make more progress that you […]
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Meaning of Life (Provisional)
An acquaintance heard that I was interested in philosophy and jokingly asked me, “What is the meaning of life?” I didn’t have a ready answer then, but the next morning, in reverie, I found myself thinking, “You know the answer.” Surprised—because I didn’t know that I knew—, I asked this inner voice, “Oh? What is […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Wisdom-ing | 3 Comments
On Living into Middle Age
Dear Son and Daughter, I realized that you’re heading into the middle years and realized also that things had shifted. When I was young, in my teens and 20s, the mainstream culture didn’t view mid-adulthood as a time of important development. While it was recognized that adults sometimes changed, yet it was not a social […]
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Aggregate Experiences
Although there are words for meaning, self, society, family, happiness, and other experiences, we should recognize that these are states of mind are not a single phenomena, but rather they are the product of many— possibly hundreds—of component experiences of a variety of types. There is no “thing-ness” to such phenomena, but rather they should be […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Psychology | 1 Comment
Folk Dancing as Soul Celebration
One of my goals is to encourage people to re-own their participation in the arts, in drama, singing, the visual arts, poetry, various kinds of dancing and movement, all in a spirit of play. These are powerful vehicles for vitality and authentic self-expression. Ballroom dancing (learning cool steps!), square dancing (also called “friendship put to […]
Posted in Autobiographical, My Favorite Things, Play and Spontaneity | No Comments
Some of Adam Blatner’s “ManyParts” Characters
Based on the introductory webpage: Snidely Whiplash, the prototypical villain of the melodrama. Nyah-ha-ha. Actually stimulated not only by melodramas, but also the puppet character of Dishonest John on the Time for Beany children’s television show in Los Angeles around 1948, Snidely represents the delicious contrary roles of wickedness, nastiness, and the spirit of The Grinch […]
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Autobiographical | No Comments
Autobiographical Notes: Adam Blatner
I think aspects of the story of my life might be of interest because they witness to a number of important cultural shifts that operated in my lifetime. Some began in earnest, though some precursors (of course) might be discerned, while others continued and evolved. I have been fortunate, I feel, in being a part […]
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